Legislative Framework

Resource Management Act 1991

Part 2 – sustainable management, future generations, avoiding, remedying, mitigating effects
Particular regard to the effects of climate change
Hierarchy of planning instruments
Definition of “effects”
Gather information, monitor and keep records
Subdivision and resource consents
Emergency provisions

Local Government Act 2002

Main purpose “…to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of communities, in the present and for the future."
Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP)

Building Act 2004

Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002

We already have the legislative framework, we just have to use it:

Local Government Act (LGA)

Concept of sustainable development embedded in the LGA 02
Climate change not explicitly referred to in LGA 02 – implicit in the requirement for local government to consider the foreseeable needs of future generations.
Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) is to provide a long-term focus for the decisions and activities of the local authority
- Long term planning functions need to take into account expected long term shifts and changes in climate and to ensure future generations are adequately prepared for future climate conditions.

Building Act (BA)

A project information memorandum must include— information on special feature of the land concerned and this includes natural hazards
Under s.71 of the Building Act a local authority cannot grant a building consent if the land is subject to natural hazard, this includes erosion- (including coastal erosion), inundation (including flooding, overland flow, storm surge, tidal effects)

Civil Defence Emergency Management Act (CDEMA)

The CDEMA is largely an enabling mechanism which can complement the RMA and the BA. In particular, integration between regional and district councils is achieved with the formation of the Civil Defence and Emergency Management Groups comprising Regional Council (RC) and Territorial Local Authority (TLA) representatives .
Groups are responsible for identifying, assessing and managing hazards and risks, consulting and communicating about risks and implementing risk reduction.